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Fine Dictionary

Smarten

sˈmɑrtən
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Smarten
    To make smart or spruce; -- usually with up. "She had to go and smarten herself up somewhat."
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. smarten
    To make smart or spruce; render brisk, bright, or lively: often with up.
  2. smarten
    To smart; be pained.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (v.t) Smarten
    to make smart, to brighten (with up)
Etymology

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary A.S. smeortan; Dut. smarten, Ger. schmerzen.

Usage in the news

To give Duplicity its due, Tony Gilroy's romantic caper goes against the Hollywood grain by smartening itself up instead of dumbing itself down. kcrw.com

Intelligent hydraulics simplifies and smartens plastics sheet extrusion . hydraulicspneumatics.com

Sunset Uses Savant and the iPad to Smarten Up This Show House. electronichouse.com

Think Tech 4 Ways to Smarten up Your Car. discovermagazine.com

Locals need to smarten up. observertoday.com

Free Penmanship Print Font Helps Kids Smarten Up Their Handwriting. pcworld.com

Free Penmanship Print Font Helps Kids Smarten Up Their Handwriting . pcworld.com

Federal regulation won't smarten, slim kids. lvrj.com

Sew this nostalgic schoolhouse hanging craft to smarten up your wall decor. countrywomanmagazine.com

Sew this nostalgic schoolhouse hanging craft to smarten up your wall decor. countrywomanmagazine.com

Usage in literature

But I've got a hunch that if we play dumb at first, then smarten up slowly, we can make him feel that he's done it for us. "Danger in Deep Space" by Carey Rockwell

She would be always cleaning, yet never clean; always smartening things up, and yet never keeping them tidy. "True to his Colours" by Theodore P. Wilson

Smarten yourselves up a bit. "!Tention" by George Manville Fenn

Railings had painted themselves blue or green, and smartened their tips with white. "The Chauffeur and the Chaperon" by C. N. Williamson

She dropped it into the pond yesterday, and I am trying to smarten it up a little, poor thing! "Three Margarets" by Laura E. Richards

If they excused her for half a second this would give her sufficient space to tittivate and smarten up. "Love at Paddington" by W. Pett Ridge

The house in Rathbone Place had been smartened up. "The Bill-Toppers" by Andre Castaigne

It's smartened up beyond all knowing. "The Wooden Horse" by Hugh Walpole

He had smartened himself up considerably so far as appearance went. "People of Position" by Stanley Portal Hyatt

Let her smarten herself up, by all means. "The Etiquette of Engagement and Marriage" by G. R. M. Devereux

Usage in poetry
Zingt gij nooit de roode smarten
Van den duistren aardenacht,
Wordt het bloeden onzer harten
Wel gestelpt, maar nooit verklacht?...
And when they had scraped each wall,
Pulled out the stately pews, and smartened all,
'It will be well,' declared the spruce church-warden,
'To overhaul